Daigo Umehara
He specializes in 2D arcade fighting games, mainly those released by Capcom. Among his accomplishments are defeating the US champion Alex Valle to win Capcom's Street Fighter Alpha 3 Tournament , being named Capcom's player of the decade, and accomplishing GamePro Magazine's #1 biggest moment in pro-gaming. He is commonly called "The Beast", "Ume" or simply "Daigo." Although he took a break from professional gaming to play pachinko and mah-jong, Daigo returned in 2008 to become the #1 ranked player in Street Fighter IV with over 130,000 battle points and an 86% win ratio.
Early career
Daigo began playing at around 11 years of age.
In 1994, around the time he entered middle school, Daigo first began to shine while playing Super Street Fighter II X (Super Street Fighter II Turbo). After setting various records, like a 286-win streak in Vampire Hunter (Night Warriors), he developed a reputation in the Tokyo gaming community.
In 1995, he entered the GAMEST Cup, but failed to qualify.
In 1997, Daigo entered the GAMEST Cup national competition in Vampire Savior (the sequel to Vampire Hunter) where he was able to defeat long-time rival Shin’ya Ohnuki in the finals. As the tournament champion, he then went on to face Alex Valle, who was the winner of the U.S.
The international "Grand Championship" was held in San Francisco, California on November 8, 1998. Capcom 2) for the right to battle Japan's best players in those respective games.
Daigo only entered the 3rd Strike exhibition, but defeated all of his opponents, ending each round with Ken's fierce Shoryu-ken.
These events were filmed for the documentary Bang the Machine.
Evolution 2004
Daigo is most famous for a clip from the Evolution 2004 3rd Strike losers bracket final where he made a dramatic comeback against Justin Wong (who was using Chun-Li). The cameraman (Seth Kilian) turned away to record the audience erupt into a tremendous uproar. Daigo has since gone on to become one of the most recognizable names in fighting games.
Daigo in 2005
Return to Japan
On May 3-5, 2005 Daigo competed in the third Tougeki (Super Battle Opera) video game tournament, playing Street Fighter III 3rd Strike.
Once again he would meet Ohnuki -- playing as his partner in the team that would go on to win (the team’s name was "UmeNuki").
His promised third appearance at Evolution was cancelled. This time, his focus was on the newly-released Street Fighter IV. According to Capcom senior manager Seth Killian, in 2008 Daigo amassed more than 10,000 wins, and had mastered a technique called "focus attacks." In November 29, 2008, Arcadia Magazine released its January 2009 issue with an accompanying DVD of a recorded exhibition.
The video of the match against Justin Wong currently received almost 80,000 hits on Niconico video sharing site while the match against Iyo recieved almost 120,000 hits. Arcadia, Japanese arcade gaming magazine, called Daigo "God of 2D Fighting Games" on the cover of its July issue. Daigo now writes a column in Arcadia starting from August issue, called Umehara Column: Michi. ("Umehara Column: Street")
Evolution 2009
For his win at the GameStop's tournament, Daigo started his Street Fighter IV competition as a seeded player in the semi-finals on July 18 which is the second day of Evo 2009. In the final showdown, Wong changed his character from Abel to Balrog (boxer) to counter Daigo's signature Ryu.
The two fought until the last game possible, but Daigo is the one who won the competition.
Daigo also participated in the Street Fighter II HD Remix portion of the tournament, though he lost in his first match using Guile.
Tournament placings
Capcom vs. SNK 2
Super Battle Opera (2003) - 2nd
Super Battle Opera 2 (2004) - 5th with teammates Shiro and Dan
Evolution 2003 - 2nd
Absolution 2004 - 5th
Evolution 2006 - 5th
Guilty Gear Series (XX, #Reload and Slash)
Super Battle Opera (2003) - 3rd with teammates Arisakashinya and Pachi
Evolution 2003 - 1st
Absolution 2004 - 1st
Evolution 2004 - 1st
Evolution 2006 - 2nd with teammates RF and Kindevu
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Evolution 2003 - 2nd
Absolution 2004 - 1st
Evolution 2004 - 2nd
The 2nd a-cho Cup (2004) - 2nd with teammates K.O and Onanism
Super Battle Opera 3 (2005) - 1st with teammate Ohnuki
Cooperation Cup 4 (2005) - 1st with teammates Deshi KFG, Hayao, Boss, and Raoh
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Super Battle Opera (2003) - 1st with teammates Kurahashi and Yng.Bro.Chun
Evolution 2003 - 1st
Absolution 2004 - 1st
Evolution 2004 - 1st
X-Mania 7 - 2nd with teammates Yaya and Aniken
Hyper Street Fighter II
Evolution 2006 - 5th
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Absolution 2004 - 3rd
The 2nd a-cho Cup (2004) - 2nd with teammates D44 and West Coast Dhalsim
Capcom Fighting Jam
Super Battle Opera 3 (2005) - 2nd with teammate Dan
Street Fighter IV
Evolution 2009 - Champion
Gameplay footage
These videos document the more recent key moments in Daigo's career.
Umehara Daigo vs Justin Wong
1998 Japan SFA3 Tournament (Part 1 of 6)
Daigo vs.
Daigo (1998 post-tournament exhibition)
SFIII: 3rd Strike - Ken vs Chun Li
Street Fighter: The Beast Is Unleashed
Evolution 2K ("Extra footage of Diago at Evo. "The Road to Evolution 2002 - A SF Community History Primer from 1995 (according to Javi)".
http:www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-7x-49-en-70-1urs.html.